Football Headline

Monday November 26, 2012Gators Take Break Riding Momentum of Comeback Season

After 11 regular-season wins, after victories over Texas
A&M, LSU, South Carolina and Florida State, after a five-game improvement
in head coach Will Muschamp’s second season, the Gators will take a break.

They won’t practice for nearly two weeks as they prepare for
final exams and some time away from football.

“We’ve made strides. We’re getting it back to where it needs
to be,’’ Muschamp said Monday, less than 48 hours after walking out of Doak
Campbell Stadium following a 37-26 win over FSU. “Beating your rivals is very
important, and beating your in-state rival is critical because you’ve got to
live with it a long time.

“The Gator Clubs will be a lot more fun this year, I can
tell you that. It’s important to win in your state and to win in your backyard.
It helps to create positive momentum in a lot of areas for your program.”

Florida’s impressive victory over the Seminoles sparked the latest
round of debate over the BCS. As the Gators take off this week, those who
analyze college football for a living are working overtime talking about the
conference championship games, the BCS rankings and bowl projections.

Florida is in the thick of that chatter.

Ranked No. 4 in the BCS, the Gators appear headed to the
Sugar Bowl as one of the four top teams in the BCS. No. 1 Notre Dame is
expected to face the Alabama-Georgia winner for the national title. Meanwhile,
the loser of the SEC Championship Game is likely to drop out of the top four of
the BCS, thus missing out on a BCS bowl.

Nick Saban, coach of No. 2-ranked Alabama, told reporters on
a conference call Sunday night that the Alabama-Georgia loser should not drop
out of the BCS top four and behind a Florida team that failed to make it to
Atlanta.

“It’s not really a great scenario for either team,” Saban
said. “You play your way into the championship game, which means you’re the
best team in your division. It doesn’t seem quite right. I don’t feel good
about it for our football team or their football team.”

Muschamp worked on Saban’s staff at LSU and for a season
with the Miami Dolphins. When asked about his former boss’ comments, Muschamp
offered his own solution.

“Well, I can switch and go to Atlanta and play the Dawgs,’’
Muschamp quipped. “Be careful what you ask for, Nick.”

Since its inception 14 years ago, the BCS has been a
favorite target of fans, the media and coaches. The noise usually gets loudest
late in the season when the computer rankings start to shape the national
championship picture.

If this were 2014 instead of 2012 – in two years a four-team
BCS playoff system will begin – the Gators would be looking at playing in a
national title semifinal game the next time they take the field. However, they
will likely have to settle for the label of “best team in 2012” not to play for
the national title according to many of the pundits.

Muschamp wasn’t interested in crying over the BCS rankings –
or a 17-9 loss to No. 3-ranked Georgia in Jacksonville last month.

“We knew the rules of engagement
when we started the season,” Muschamp said. “I’m not one who is going to sit
there and complain about it. It is what it is. We had our opportunity in
Jacksonville and we didn’t get it done. That’s our fault, nobody else’s.”

Since taking over Florida,
Muschamp has repeatedly stressed the top priority each year is playing in the
SEC Championship Game. Despite the unusual scenario that played out last year
when Alabama won the national title without winning the SEC – and the
conversation about whether the Gators should get that opportunity this year –
Muschamp maintained his stance Monday.

“I just think that I’ve been in
that game and there’s nothing like it,’’ Muschamp said. “You work at a place
like Florida to go there. I feel very strongly about that and that will never
change.”

INJURY REPORT

Muschamp said redshirt junior
linebacker Jelani Jenkins underwent surgery on his injured foot Monday and
won’t be available for the bowl game. Jenkins suffered the injury late in the
first half of Saturday’s win … Defensive tackle Leon Orr, who has missed the
past three games with a kidney infection, is expected to start physical
activity perhaps as early as this week. Orr’s status for the bowl game remains
uncertain … Linebacker Neiron Ball (ankle) is expected to be back in time for
the bowl game according to Muschamp.

BOWL PREP

Muschamp said the team will likely
kick off bowl preparations on Dec. 7-8 with a couple of light practices in
helmets and shorts. They won’t start working at full-speed until the following
week.

“They need a break. It’s
been a long season,’’ Muschamp said. “They need to get away from football a
little bit and get in the weight room and heal up.

“Our first four or five bowl practices will be absolutely no
work on the opponent. It will be all working on ourselves, getting our guys
back in the swing of playing football again and working on developing our
younger players.”

COACHING CAROUSEL

This is the time of year when coaches come and go. Muschamp
said he doesn’t expect any staff defections.

He did say he plans to talk to some receiving coaches about
possibly joining his staff. Former grad assistant Bush Hamdan served in that
role this season after Aubrey Hill’s departure.

Muschamp’s message to any potential replacements: “It’s a
great place to work and we’ve got a good young football team and we’re going to
be good for a long time,’’ he said.